Harris extends US Army wideband networking

Harris Corporation has announced that it has integrated wideband networking capabilities that that successfully connected dismounted soldiers to senior commanders within a Brigade Combat Team at the recent US Army Network Integration Evaluation. This is the first time such networking capabilities have been provided between two separate tactical networks.

According to the company, Harris deployed a two-channel Falcon III AN/PRC-117G vehicular system that transmitted voice and wideband data between the networks — analogous to a call or text message that moves from one carrier’s cellular phone to another. The system consisted of two AN/PRC-117G radios connected to each other in a vehicular amplifier adapter.

Soldiers at the NIE 12.1 also integrated the AN/PRC-117G with the new AN/PRC-152A wideband handheld radios to extend networking connectivity from brigade to the tactical edge. The extended system resulted in wideband communication services that covered all of White Sands, an area of 3,200 square miles.

Harris said the AN/PRC-152A was used to send voice, data, and position location information from the dismounted soldier over a backbone Adaptive Wideband Networking Waveform (ANW2) network. The AN/PRC-152A is the first NSA Type-1 certified handheld radio to offer wideband networking as well as standard legacy waveforms.

The two-channel AN/PRC-117G vehicular system at NIE 12.1 simultaneously operated two wideband waveforms. One radio operated the JTRS Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW), for communication from platoon levels through to company commands; the other radio ran ANW2 and transmitted voice and data from company to battalion and brigade. The Harris system moved information between the SRW and ANW2 networks, allowing for seamless communication across the battlefield, from platoon level to battalion and back.

According to Harris, once the data reached the ANW2 network, it was populated over the Army’s Warfighter Information Network-Tactical, providing a common operating picture from the foxhole to the brigade headquarters. Applications used over the Harris Falcon III radios were TIGR, file transfer, chat messages and email. During NIE 12.1, the Harris radios were deployed in rucksacks, vehicles, aerostats, fixed wing aircraft and RAID towers.

The Army also evaluated two additional wideband radio products from Harris: The Highband Networking Radio (HNRe2), which provides an IP-based network with links capable of throughput rates up to 27 Mbps, for VoIP, video and C4I services, and the RF-7800W High-Capacity Line-of-Sight radio, which delivers quick-to-deploy, point-to-point or point-to-multipoint wireless Internet Protocol infrastructure. During the NIE, the HNRe2 delivered nine nodes of critical communications — including IP transmission of ISR data — using terrestrial and airborne assets to establish a backbone network from brigade down to company echelons. The Army used the RF-7800W radios to provide remote video feeds to command posts, battalions and headquarters installations as well as an alternative data link between key nodes.